Everyone is making this much more difficult then it needs to be...

Both Quebec and Vegas start in the West.

Done.

You want in the league? You pay your dues like Columbus and Detroit did.

Then one day when Florida goes belly up we move Quebec to the East and hopefully Seattle has their crap together this time and they can take the team on a relocation

People, Las Vegas is 40 miles from California! Any team in Vegas HAS to be in the same division as the 3 California teams. If home games against the Ducks, Kings and Sharks are scheduled on Saturdays, that would be 9 or 12 home sellouts right off the bat!

I will take being in a division with 1 good team (Tampa) and 2 bad ones (Florida and Carolina) over the division we are currently in.

Lets do it!

I will take being in a division with 1 good team (Tampa) and 2 bad ones (Florida and Carolina) over the division we are currently in.

Lets do it!

First of all if you play a home and home against 24 non conference there is 48 games. 24x2=48

Las Vegas should be in the west switching with Colorado. Colorado is further east.

Columbus and Buffalo should switch again buffalo being further east.

I wrote this in a forum a few days ago:

Jonathon Willis wrote a blog today about expansion i liked. Assuming Quebec and Las Vegas are the expansion teams there will be 4 conferences(pacific, central, Atlantic, east) and 2 divisions per conference. Top teams in each division make playoffs and then the next 2 top teams in the conference make it. Also i want the pacific vs. central and atlantic vs. east for the semis.
Pacific:
North-Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg
South-Anaheim, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Jose
Central:
North-Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Minnesota
South-Arizona, Colorado, Dallas, St. Louis
East:
Canada-Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto
US-Boston, New Jersey, N.Y Islanders, N.Y. Rangers
Atlantic:
North-Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
South-Carolina, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay

There are 4 conferences with 2 divisions per. Each team plays 6 game in their division and 4 in their conference then they play a home and home with every team in the other 3 conferences. 48 games against non conference, 16 against conference non division, and 18 against division for a total of 82 games.
- Sharkssince1995

Yes, my child?
- MrBeanTown

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

This concept was stolen from a poster that suggested this format about a week ago. Plagiarism at its finest.

Everyone is making this much more difficult then it needs to be...

Both Quebec and Vegas start in the West.

Done.

You want in the league? You pay your dues like Columbus and Detroit did.

Then one day when Florida goes belly up we move Quebec to the East and hopefully Seattle has their crap together this time and they can take the team on a relocation
- Canadian kid

That makes no sense.

How many sniffs does it take to get to the center of a kilo of cocaine?
- KOGGS

Fixed

And I think for Jarrett Stoll the answer is 1

This concept was stolen from a poster that suggested this format about a week ago. Plagiarism at its finest.
- Katana777

Link?

Wow, what a bad idea.

It is an interesting setup, but I think it is to convoluted.

I am a bit of a traditionalist, and do not like the geographic names.
It removed the tradition and history from the game we love.

My vote would be...

PRINCE OF WALES CONFERENCE
Patrick Division
Boston
Montreal
NJ Devils
NY Islanders
NY Rangers
Quebec
Philadelphia
Washington
(Basically this is all I95 corridor teams and cover the north eastern most part of North America)

Adams Division
Buffalo
Carolina
Columbus
Florida
Ottawa
Pittsburgh
Tampa
Toronto
(This division is spread out north-to-south but follow a eastern central zone for all but three teams)


CAMPBELL CONFERENCE
Norris Division
Chicago
Colorado
Dallas
Detroit
Minnesota
Nashville
St. Louis
Winnipeg
(geographically central in all respects)

Smyth Division
Anaheim
Calgary
Edmonton
Los Angeles
Phoenix
San Jose
Las Vegas
Vancouver
(All teams far western area of the US/Canada)

Each division has a nice mix of strong, middle and weaker squads which would offer some chance at balance.

Id like to see the playoff structure change to top 4 in each division make it. Drop the wildcard.

How about the teams just join whatever geographical location they belong to, and instead we reformat how teams make the playoffs... It should be the top 16 teams make the playoffs... period. Regardless of what division/conference you play in. The top 16 teams with the most points finishing the season are the teams that deserve to play for the cup. The whole 2 conference, top team from the division, and 2 wildcard team format just seems archaic. It doesn't make sense for a team with less points to make the playoffs, just because they were on the top of their weak division.
- mixturebill

In theory you are right ...but we all know money makes the world go round and the added cost of travel plus the chance of less rivalries are just not good for business so it's highly unlikely your idea would ever pan out

I personally would love to see a 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, etc as it would create some crazy underdogs ....unfortunately after the first round most of the games would be starting around 9-10 EST so that would hurt ratings

How does Stammer's extension affect moving Drouin? If anything signing him to an extension should increase the odds he stays since sooner rather than later he will be playing next to Stammer feeding him one-timers.

Also: Drouin isn't going anywhere
- uf1910

I'm thinking along the lines of If Stamkos leaves (not likely) and they trade Drouin now (also unlikely) they are left minus two top forwards. If Stammer is signed long term, they can afford to let one forward prospect go for a decent return.

This concept was stolen from a poster that suggested this format about a week ago. Plagiarism at its finest.
- Katana777

Not the P-word!

This is getting stupid on how much divisions are changing almost every year.

I like this format better than what exists now. I've never been a fan of the divisions as it really doesn't do much instead of create more complicated playoff scenarios force rivalries. Just make 2 conferences and split the league in 2 (geographically of course) and play everyone. I love a Sens/Habs or Sens/Leafs game as much as the next guy, but 8 times is a little much.

I get where you are going with this...but separating Toronto/Montreal is impossible. Also the NY Metro area teams MUST stay together. in my opinion..
- Eklund

IMHO you could fix this issue by creating two conferences and four divisions, tbh.

"This is a format you should love then...8 games each year against each of your chief rivals...

- Eklund, Commissioner"


Really? Because the Blackhawks chief rival is the St. Louis Blues... or did you forget that?

Fixed

And I think for Jarrett Stoll the answer is 1
- dothedougie

This is getting stupid on how much divisions are changing almost every year.
- KINGS67

Can we just do away with divisions? Just go down to two conferences. Schedule games against your rivals slightly more than everyone else in your conference. Still play every team home and away. And then take the 8 best teams in each conference?

Why did you kill the dinosaurs?
- glove_was_stuck

Because you touch yourself at night!

This is a format you should love then...8 games each year against each of your chief rivals...
- Eklund

Didn't we used to have 8 games against our rivalries?

I don't even want to watch the Sens twice, never mind 8 times.

- eichiefs9

I like it
How do the playoffs work?